From: Clearwater
from: Clearwater Partners with NSA Centers of Academic Excellence To Advance Cyber Defense Education
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 22, 2019) – Clearwater, the leading provider of cyber risk management and HIPAA compliance solutions, is addressing the nation’s widening cybersecurity talent gap head on, partnering with three of the nation’s leading Information Security and Intelligence programs to help train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Healthcare is the primary target for cyber attacks, yet a big challenge is sourcing the talent to fight the onslaught. With more than 300,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs— a number expected to rise to 1.8 million by 2022—Clearwater is collaborating with Kennesaw State University, Ferris State University and, most recently, The University of Texas at Austin, to design and deliver programs that provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to protect our information infrastructure.
The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security have designated Kennesaw State and Ferris State as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. Both universities include Clearwater’s IRM|Pro® Enterprise Cyber Risk Management Software (ECRMS) in their curricula and offer postgraduate and bachelor’s degrees as well as certificates within their cyber programs.
“For a degree that prepares students to protect the most critical assets in an organization, it is important that we arm them with critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” said Mike Whitman, Executive Director, Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development at Kennesaw State. “Extensive instruction coupled with the tools provided by Clearwater are preparing the next generation of the cyber workforce.”
Clearwater’s IRM|Pro software enables faculty to expose students to enterprise-class, industry relevant risk analysis scenarios and drive home learning objectives in an experiential way. The software helps students apply proven NIST-based risk management methodologies to assessing risks associated with their assigned case study, and it serves as their guidepost throughout the semester with course deliverables aligned to the software’s workflow.
“We include Clearwater’s IRM|Pro cyber risk management software in our curriculum because it is imperative that we are training our students to understand and implement a high-quality cyber risk management program,” said Jim Furstenberg, Assistant Professor of Information Security and Intelligence at Ferris State. “Clearwater saw an industry that wasn’t adopting the necessary practices and behaviors and created a software platform to help healthcare providers take a more advanced approach to cyber risk management. The ability to use the software to drive home lessons is priceless.”
In addition to Clearwater’s support of the Kennesaw State and Ferris State programs, company founder and Executive Chairman Bob Chaput and Chief Risk Officer Jon Moore have recently joined the faculty for the professional certificate program, Leadership in Healthcare Privacy and Security Risk Management, being offered by The University of Texas’ (UT) McCombs School of Business.
“While there’s a massive shortage of cybersecurity talent across all sectors, healthcare has been specifically challenged as one of our nation’s last industries to undergo significant digital transformation,” Chaput said. “The UT curriculum is focused on risk-based cybersecurity strategy development and offers a significant opportunity to train individuals for many critical, non-technical Cyber Risk Management roles needed in healthcare.
“The healthcare industry is facing a crisis,” he continued. “Ransomware and data breaches are hitting record levels this year without the talent to combat them. Clearwater is proud to help these institutions address industry demands, provide guidance and supplement classroom instruction with valuable experience using its software.”
Academic institutions that wish to inquire about using Clearwater software and experts as part of their programs are invited to contact the company’s head of Marketing, John Howlett, at john.howlett@clearwatercompliance.com.
submitted by: Jenny Davis